The bell tower of the Gassin church was probably used as a watchtower before thechurch was built in the ^16th century. Until the French Revolution, the bell tower was fitted with battlements, confirming its use as a defensive element in the medieval village. They were destroyed during the Revolution, reinstalled later and removed again at the end of the ^20th century. The bell tower is built on the rocks, a reminder of the etymology of Gassin, which comes from the pre-Indo-European -kar (“perched stone”) and -sen (“built on a rock”).

The view from the top of the bell tower is breathtaking, offering a 360° view of the sea, from the Bay of Cannes to the Golden Isles, and of the Maures forest.

The bell tower stands at 212.79 metres. At its lowest point, on the Place de l’Église side, it stands at 195.66 metres. It therefore measures 17.13 metres.

What does 17 meters correspond to?

The largest humpback whales can reach 17 metres in length:

The Contest 55CS is 17 metres long:

It’s also the height of the statue of Gomateshvara (or Bahubali), considered to be the world’s most monolithic statue (made from the same block of stone, in this case granite). It represents Gomateshvara, one of the most important figures in Jainism, a religion with similarities to Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Carved in 983, it can be reached via a staircase with 614 steps!

17 metres is also the length of the first room in the Lascaux cave, known as the Hall of the Bulls:

The Tamme-Lauri oak, Estonia’s oldest tree, stands 17 metres high: